San Marcos theft suspect nabbed in Maine

SAN MARCOS  A bookkeeper suspected of embezzling $45,000 from her former San Marcos employer was jailed in Maine this week, accused of siphoning money from her new bosses.

Carrie Marie Richardson, 38, was arrested Wednesday at her Harpswell, Maine, apartment after investigators linked her to the embezzlement of more than $80,000 from her employer, a Ramada Inn in Lewiston, said police Lt. Mike McGonagle.

McGonagle said Richardson worked as a bookkeeper at the motel from January 2012 to January 2013. She was fired after an audit uncovered large losses, McGonagle said.

In June 2012, an arrest warrant was issued for Richardson in San Diego County after San Marcos sheriff’s detectives found evidence she had taken money while working as a bookkeeper for North County Yamaha.

Richardson came under suspicion in November 2011 when a credit card company called North County Yamaha co-owner Julie Hurkman to report suspicious activity: more than $45,000 in returns from the shop had gone to Richardson’s credit card.

Richardson, an employee for eight years, fled the office that day, Hurkman said. She also abandoned the Escondido home she was renting from Hurkman.

Hurkman said news of Richardson’s arrest was “so good, I didn’t believe it.”

San Marcos sheriff’s Detective Jeff Miller, who investigated the Yamaha case, said he was not surprised by Richardson’s arrest in Maine.

When she fled, she was also under investigation for allegedly siphoning $100,000 from Escondido Pop Warner Football when she was the group’s treasurer.